What would you like the future of Hirez Audio to be? (1 Viewer)

[Carlo_M]

I would like SACD/DVD-A to become popular enough to warrant expanding the selection, but not popular enough so that it becomes truly "mass market" and dumbed down like CDs have become. I know this is wishful thinking, but hey, you asked for what we wanted, not what we thought was feasible Basically I want it to become the most popular "music lover's" format. Most people who listen to the disposable pop today (Britney, Boy Bands) have no interest in obtaining the best quality, so let them have their overcompressed CDs and leave SACD/DVDA to those who really love music, who use it for more than just background while doing something else.

As far as catalog releases, I'd like:

More classic 60's and 70's rock. Zep, Beatles, Floyd, etc.

More indie label current releases. Sadly, with disposable pop dominating the airwaves and record labels today, indie labels are truly the last safe haven for talented artists today. Particularly singer/songwriter/guitarist styles: Glen Phillips, Aimee Mann, Jon Brion, David Mead, etc.

Also, 90's grunge would be nice: Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Screaming Trees, etc. as that helped take us out of the hair-band days of the 80s.

 

[John_Lee]

I would love the elimination of jitter, I've been using EAC on it's most stringent sumchecking to appromixate that end. But we have a long way to go regarding interference, sound cards and fan noise before the PC is a hi-rez platform.
Not to mention a long political slog to even allow hirez material to sniff the inside of a PC, where piracy would be inevitable.

 

[Robert Powers]

I got my first SACD/DVD-A player about a year ago. I had not even heard of the two formats until then. I have to thank this forum for introducing me. First of all I would like to say that personally I absolutely love both formats and I would love for everyone to feel as compassionate about it as I do.

When I finally got my system working properly I was blown away by the two formats but everyone that I know that I have demonstrated it to did not seem to be as impressed by it as me. It's not that they had anything negative to say about it but they just didn't say anything. None of my friends had even heard of either format before, and it appeared that they could care less about it. My wife's comments were something like "thats nice" and nothing else was ever said. She gets mad if I get in the mood to listen so I usually wait until she is not at home to enjoy it. Maybe I just beefed it up too much for them before I let them listen to it or maybe it is that most people really don't care. I don't have an expensive system, just the Pioneer 563 model and some Polk speakers, but I still love it and can't understand why everyone else that I know doesn't feel the same way about it as me.

It seems that most people would rather watch a movie as opposed to just sitting in a certain listening area just to enjoy a better sounding format. Maybe most people look at music as something to listen to while driving or working just to pass the time. Maybe it is just people like the ones of us here that read these internet forums that really appreciate these formats.

So my opinion is that I don't think that either format will ever be the norm or mainstream format. First of all it is much more of an art to record than a regular redbook cd so there is a limited number of people to record as opposed to an unlimited number of albums. Second of all it just isn't popular enough. You either have that appreciation for it or you don't. Those are just my opinions and I hope that they are dead wrong because I would hate more than anything to see either of the formats fail.

 

[Will_B]

Robert, you're just experiencing the effect of people not wanting to accept that there is something better than what they're used to, because to do so would mean they'd have to admit that what they're used to is not as good.

 

[Phil A]

There is already one DAC I believe that has a USB input for the computer. There is at least one other that a friend of mine has E-Mailed asking about a USB input to their DAC and received a response that they are working on a separate product that will have a USB interface. I definitely think there will be more computer products that have audio applications. PCs are still not built with the audiophile in mind.

 

[Kevin M]

Fair use would be nice, I have a problem with studios automatically assuming that I am a thief.

Can of worms maybe?

 

[Carlo_M]

I might have to disagree. He just might be experiencing the fact that music means less to a lot of people now than it did in years past. Just think about all the competition for entertainment dollars nowadays. There's video games, movies, the internet, music, DVDs, cell phones (yes, I consider them entertainment, especially when you consider how long people spend on those damn things), etc. EA Sports brought in more revenue last year than all of the Hollywood movie studios.

When I was in college, just over 10 years ago, there was no Internet to speak of, pagers were rare unless you were a doctor, and cell phones unheard of except in the field of battle. The Sega Genesis was cutting edge. It wasn't hard for me to find other students who were as passionate about music as I was. They lived it, breathed it, got in line at midnight when Tower Records would have a midnight sale (I did for Pearl Jam's VS and Soundgarden's Superunknown and Down on the Upside). These friends would not only listen to current great music, but were steeped in classic rock from the 60s and 70s.

Today's music landscape has changed dramatically. It is fighting for its share of peoples' entertainment dollars, and losing. Hell, I buy more remasters of "oldies" now than new stuff by a ratio of 3-1, and I just turned 30, so I'm by no means an "old fogey". And I buy more DVDs than CDs by about that margin. I still work at a university, and I constantly meet and befriend students. I have seen the trend away from music firsthand. Whereas bands used to play on campus regularly, now it's a rare occasion. The Tower Records **and** Wherehouse have gone out of business in the adjacent college community.

Put it this way: how many of us fell in love w/ music because of something like "Dad's record collection" or something else like that? Lots of us, I bet. But today's kids are not going to have anything like that to bequeath to their kids. Most music is disposable and most people think of it that way, why else would MP3s and portable music players proliferate like they have? Hardly anyone cares about cover art, quality of the songs, putting together a great *album*--we're lucky if we get 4 songs out of 12 that are good on a new CD nowadays.

I don't think Robert's wife and friends are in "denial about the superiority of a new music format". I think they just might not give a damn. If someone were to come up to me and show me a revolutionary new way of building an aquarium, I might have the same reaction even though it is revolutionary.

Just my cynicism based on what I've seen...ymmv.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

I would agree. I think there are a couple of factors here:

1. Music has done a piss-poor job of marketing and building excitement compared to the movie business.
2. Movies are discussed regularly among people and generate a lot of enthusiasm in part due to the celebrity culture we live in.
3. People have less time and listening critically to music is considered old fashioned and rarely done.
4. Most music chains are highly levered due to acquisitions and bad management. Tower and Wherehouse are perennial bankruptcies or near bankruptcies. There is no room to make music exciting from a financial standpoint.
5. There is no customer service at retailers. Except for the rare indie like Amoeba, there is very little knowledge at all of hirez.
6. Music has, as Carlo states, become "disposable" like a razor. It's one big casino where labels place bets on the next big single and before it has peaked in a few weeks, they are on to the next thing. It has become less about artist development and songwriting and playing the darn instrument well.

Just my two cents.

 

[Mike Broadman]

My wishes are simple: hybrids and lower cost. What is this $30 bullshit for MoFis, Analogue Production and such?!

 

[Robert Powers]

Will_B, Carlo, and Lee. You guys explained exactly what I was trying to say but I just couldn't spit it out.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

I'm glad you said this Mike. $30 is outrageous by even my warped audiophile standards. It's keeping me from pulling the trigger on the Prokofiev disc. These are just mastering jobs as well so expenses should be relatively low for production.

 

[gregD]

Bingo.

On the nose-y are these assessments... and how sad is that?... and ironically, there is more good music accessible than ever before if you're willing to search a little (college radio, internet, live performance).

Hi-res is just a casualty of all this... an idea whose time has come -- at a bad time... and it hasn't helped its own cause by virtue of its shortcomings... so, to address this thread, if hi-res is to survive in a hostile world, we'll need:

1. either one reference format (doesn't even matter which) or idiot-proof uni players.

2. simple single-cable connection; i.e., digital interface.

3. tons of software at redbook-or-less prices.

4. fair-use facility... CD-R for the car.

5. most importantly, Sony and Warner must abandon their insane aspirations of global domination of hardware and software and licensing... collaborate and create product that will be irresistable to everyone from J6P to audio elitists.

I've timidly bought into hi-res (563a and a dozen titles)... sounds very nice, but it comprises about 1% of my music listening... if it all vanished tomorrow, I'd be very content with redbook, and the fact that I didn't invest heavily in wobbly formats... if music ultimately can only be had via mp3, I guess I'll go there... or, preferably, to the aforementioned college radio, internet, live performance.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

I think Greg is right on the money with one small exception. Still not sure if Joe Sixpack exists though.

We are a nation of niches!

 

[Michael St. Clair]

I'd like to see it grow to be a niche format...something with good support, like laserdisc had. High-res audio has virtually no support when compared to a format like laserdisc.

I'd also like to see the format war trolling/baiting to end. These internet groups often sound like a bunch of nine-year-olds arguing over Nintendo versus Playstation.

 

[Charles Gurganus]

How about the reintroduction of vinyl as the hi-rez format of choice.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

I think 2,200+ titles (3,000+ if you include DVDA) from over 200 labels is a lot of support. At the very least it's a good start.

 

[Rachael B]

If Laserdisc was a niche format, then the two hi-rez formats are "grains of sand" formats! They've been priced and marketed to remain as such too, intentionally-unintentionally, know what I mean Vern? The labels want hi-rez to "fail", IMO. They just want a price-gouging format to play around with.

When they get serious about hi-rez will be when they intoduce a new unrecordable version of such, IMO. I'm so sure they have short little scientists with thick glasses working overtime purr-fecting a bullet-proof format, sic!

 

[Michael St. Clair]

A good 95% of the major studio (and many independent) films that came out during the laserdisc heydey were actually released on laserdisc (within a few months of the mainstream VHS, often before the sell-through VHS). With 'high-res' audio, the opposite is the case. Most music titles that are released on CD do not come out on high-res. High-res has a long way to go before they have the kind of support that laserdisc had. High-res at this point reminds me of pre-recorded Minidisc and pre-recorded Digital Compact Cassette.

 

[Rachael B]

Michael, we're double star that revolve around each other, eh? We just said the same thing in different styles at almost the same moment!

 

[Phil A]

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/...?oneclick=true


"DVDs will be obsolete in 10 years: Bill Gates
Frankfurt
July 14, 2004

DVDs will be obsolete in 10 years at the latest, Microsoft boss and founder Bill Gates predicted in an interview published in the mass-circulation daily Bild.

Asked what home entertainment would like in the future, Gates said that DVD technology would be "obsolete in 10 years at the latest. If you consider that nowadays we have to carry around film and music on little silver discs and stick them in the computer, it's ridiculous," Gates said in comments reproduced in German.

"These things can scratch or simply get lost."

Gates' vision of television of the future was: "TV that will simply show what we want to see, when we want to see it. When we get home, the home computer will know who we are from our voice or our face. It will know what we want to watch, our favourite programmes, or what the kids shouldn't be allowed to see."